One Piece: Gambling To The Top

The marines and the Warlords had been observing the battle. Someone was watching the battle with interest. 

"The Gambler, I heard that he is in posses of a rare Devil Fruit. Oy, Mr Akainu. You have fought him. What do you think of it?" 

"Shut up." scoffed Akainu, not looking at Blackbeard. 

He was staring at the gigantic sword energy arc, which had pushed Josh to the ground. That arc was covered by armament Haki, in a very concentrated form. Mihawk had never got this serious before. Not since the time Shanks lost his arm. 

What was attracting Akainu's attention wasn't that. But what was Josh's performance in this battle? Earlier, Akainu had a question about how could Josh defeat Momonga. Now, Akainu wondered how did Momonga survive. 

The girls that came with Josh along with Hancock seemed to want to interfere. 

However, the great sword energy seemed to slow down while it was making its way. 

No doubt that the island would be cut in half. 

Akainu gave a side glance to the marines, who have opened their mouths widely, their jaws dropping. Meanwhile, Doflamingo was laughing, as if he found something amusing. 

"It seems he may be good for business." Muttered Doflamingo, no one knowing what's in his head. "Fufufu…." 

Robin, who heard a laugh similar to hers, cringed. 

Meanwhile. 

Josh. 

He was pushed to the ground once Mihawk got serious, with a combination of his attack and Mihawk's. 

Josh was standing on the ground, using his sword to push through the sword arc. 

The great-sword started getting wrapped by the armament Haki, gaining a black aura around it. 

To a warrior, there is nothing that teaches him more than a battle, and talent would only play a little role in the learnt lesson. 

Josh's feet were sliding, and his heart was pounding blood in huge amounts.

'I can't lose…' Josh determined, putting more strength in his feet. 

The demon's pattern on the top of his sword had its eyes shining in red. The black aura around his sword got stronger and stronger. 

Josh's body was approaching the beach, as it was being pushed. Although, with each passing second, he was getting stronger and stronger. 

"Hell No!" 

Josh screamed. All of the sudden, he turned into his demon form. With that scream, Josh waved his sword. The huge sword arc was pushed back, and it flew to the sky.

Josh, as a demon now, was way stronger than before. And he wasn't even weak in his form. 

The sky above him and Mihawk were cut in half. Anyone can see a cloud being cut in half. Josh flapped his wings and he appeared in the sky, holding the greatsword as if it were a toy. 

He quickly appeared in front of Mihawk, who was on the ground. In front of his legs, there was a large cut mark, which had been the largest one so far. 

"You finally showed it," Mihawk said, sounding more serious this time. 

"I guess you wanted me to go first." Josh landed on his feet. 

Mihawk lifted his head to stare at the tall demon. "Your problem is not your strength." 

"Problem? Hey, don't talk about my girls?" 

Having said that with sarcasm, Josh vanished from his spot and slammed his sword. Mihawk parried it and jumped to the side before he waved it. 

Josh, predicting this, slashed down, forcing Mihawk to parry and jump a few meters back. Josh moved fast to attack, and Mihawk slashed up, toward his wrists. 

Josh, upon seeing the future, had no choice but to flap his wings and move back flipping, and sending 5 sharp projectiles from his legs, which Mihawk parried easily and forced them to move toward Josh. 

Josh waved his claws, cancelling his attack. Mihawk appeared above him slightly in the air and slashed down. Josh raised his sword in defence of his life. He bent down a bit. On the ground, a great slit appeared as he pushed Mihawk. 

At this rate, this sword fight can last for days… 

"Your swordsmanship lacks something." 

As Mihawk said that, Josh pushed Mihawk, trying to send him flying. But then, black lightning danced around Mihawk's sword as he slashed, before flipping and landing on his feet. 

Josh was surprised to see what happened after that black lightning that appeared above Yoru. Many cracks appeared on the ground, and Josh's feet sank on the ground, making him feel slight pain. It seems something had surpassed his scales and did some damage to him. 

"And you say you lost interest in Shanks." 

Josh shook his head and jumped, getting more strong, and putting the sword on the top of his shoulder. 

If one noticed carefully, Josh had only been using swordsmanship. He barely used any of his Devil Fruit's powers, and Mihawk seemed to be aware of that. 

Mihawk span his sword and walked around. "You are a Grandmaster. But your problem isn't your skills. Your technique lacks something. You don't have a fighting spirit behind you." 

Josh paused. He knew what Mihawk is talking about. Something similar to Zoro's nine swords style, or Vista's petals. All of the extra petals and heads are illusions, but they do real damage. They are mastication to their swords, such as Zoro's Asura demon swordsmanship or flower. It comes from the path the swordsman had chosen. 

"You didn't achieve your level by putting your life in the line." 

Mihawk pointed his sword toward Josh. It's pretty much obvious that he was just talented and lucky enough to reach his level. 

"It's really a disgrace." 

In this world, you don't find many swordsmen's who reaches this level. All of them, even when training their physical body to the level where they can lift huge buildings easily and cut mountains like Mihawk, they don't advance in their level by simply training. They do that by surpassing death and life experiences. 

"That's where you are wrong." Josh scoffed as he said that. He turned his head and looked at the ground. A sad look took over his face before it was replaced by a laugh. 

Josh remembered the time when he was so weak, but he had to join Baroque Works. At that time, the huge guys looked scary, and he got very painful punches. 

He hadn't any healing factor, so he had spent days dealing with pain that should have left him in a hospital room. 

And that wasn't everything. Josh had endured, and he had even gone against a Warlord despite being very weak. Each day, even at the time he decided to betray Crocodile, he was aware that he may die the next day if his cover was blown up. 

He had fought agents stronger than him, explosions in giant's size. 

How about the time he had gone to face an Admiral, without a Haki. That's the funniest part. 

"Ha ha…" his laugh was slow at first. But it started getting stronger and stronger. "Hahahaha!" it was getting louder and louder. 

Josh's demon appearance vanished, being replaced by his human form. 

Josh kept laughing, and Mihawk observed him. 

"What's so funny?" Mihawk asked. 

"Reached my level without putting my life on the line?" Josh had a flashback when he had gone against people way stronger than him, not knowing if he would go back alive or not.  

" I always had everything to lose, and everything to win in each situation. My spirit is about putting my life on the line." Josh said. "Wanna hear what's called."

Mihawk half-closed his eyes. "You've been holding it from showing?" 

"It's called, All or Nothing. Because it can kill me or you." 

"I've never thought of bringing it out." Josh had always a feeling that his fighting spirit can kill him instead of his enemy. "But your funny words…. Hahaha…" Josh laughed, in both sadness and amusement. "Makes me want to see if I will win this bet. So be it, all or nothing." 

A faint mirage image of himself left his body and stood up next to him. It was holding a katana, instead of a sword. The mirage was almost faint, but it looked exactly like Josh. A doppelganger except it has a katana. 

The doppelganger appeared behind Mihawk, in the same distance between him and Josh. 

Josh turned into an afterimage as he appeared next to Mihawk, and he waved his sword in arc shape toward his neck. 

Mihawk opened his eyes widely. He could stop the attack, but he couldn't. Having no choice, Mihawk squatted and rolled on the ground, before jumping back and holding his sword, looking at Josh. 

Josh was still in a slashing position, and he had stopped his attack the moment Mihawk moved. 

Stopping your own attack was so hard if you put all of your strength behind it. 

Josh was standing in front of his doppelganger, who had the katana. The doppelganger was having the same stance as Josh, and his katana was next to Josh's neck. 

"You mad man!" Mihawk said, a drop of sweat appearing on his forehead before it turned into a smirk. 

If Josh didn't manage to stop his own swing, Josh's neck would be the one to get cut. 

If Mihawk had parried Josh's sword, then the doppelganger would have cut his neck. One can see that as Josh hadn't put all of his strength in the swing, or he would have died. 

No wonder it's called All or nothing. 

"No wonder they call you the Gambler," Mihawk said, no longer daring to teach Josh a lesson. 

"Had I failed to stop myself, I would have been the dead one," Josh said, taking his sword back.. Both Josh and his doppelganger looking at Mihawk.